Upright vacuum cleaner

ABSTRACT

A vacuum cleaner including a sterilizing unit is provided. The sterilizing unit includes a hot air circulating duct and an air passage switching part. The hot air circulating duct is disposed between a motor chamber and an air inflow part of the dust separating unit to guide air from the motor chamber to the air inflow part of the dust separating unit. The air passage switching part is disposed at a place where the air inflow part, the suction hose and the hot air circulating duct intersect. The air passage switching part is movable between a cleaning position and a sterilizing position to switch a flow of air, the cleaning position being a position that blocks off between the air inflow part and the hot air circulating duct and the sterilizing position being a position that blocks off between the air inflow part and the suction hose.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(e) of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/964,676, filed Aug. 14, 2007, in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, and claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a) Korean Patent Application Nos. 10-2007-77662 and 10-2007-93887, filed on Aug. 2, 2007 and Sep. 14, 2007, respectively, in the Korean Intellectual Property Office, and the entire disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present disclosure relates to a vacuum cleaner, and more particularly, to an upright vacuum cleaner capable of recirculating air discharged while being heated by a suction motor to a dust separating unit and thus sterilizing bacilli or house dust mites in the dust separating unit.

2. Description of the Related Art

In general, a upright vacuum cleaner draws in external air by using a suction force of a suction motor and then remove dust or dirt included in the drawn-in external air therefrom by a filter or cyclone, so that it cleans a surface to be cleaned, such as a floor, a carpet or the like.

Such a conventional upright vacuum cleaner is usually provided with a suction brush directly joined to a lower end of a body assembly. The body assembly at an upper side thereof has a dust separating unit in which the filter or cyclone is mounted, and at a lower side thereof has a motor chamber in which the suction motor is mounted to generate the suction force. In front of the motor chamber is formed an air discharging opening, which discharges the drawn-in air to the outside. Also, a suction hose, which guides the air drawn in by the suction brush to the dust separating unit, is connected with the dust separating unit through an air inflow opening formed on the rear of the body assembly.

The upright vacuum cleaner as described above is advantageous in that since the body assembly and the suction brush are integrally joined with each other and the suction hose interconnecting the body assembly and the suction brush is short, it is convenient to move and store. Accordingly, in recent, it is increasing that the upright vacuum cleaner is used in cleaning the surface to be cleaned in a room.

However, the upright vacuum cleaner as described above is effective in removing the dust or dirt from the surface to be cleaned, but is disadvantageous in that it does not remove bacilli or house dust mites on the surface to be cleaned.

To address the problem as described above, as disclosed in Korean patent laid-open No. 10-2001-1470, the present applicant has proposed an upright vacuum cleaner having a sterilizing unit capable of sterilizing bacilli or house dust mites in the dust separating unit by using air heated by the suction motor. In this upright vacuum cleaner, the sterilizing unit is provided with a shutter part, which blocks external air from drawing into the dust separating unit through the air inflow opening and allows the air in the dust separating unit to circulate in the body assembly. The shutter part is made up of a shutter member sliding through and along a slit formed in the vicinity of the air inflow opening to open or close the air inflow opening, and an operating lever formed on one side of the shutter member to move the shutter member.

The upright vacuum cleaner as described above has addressed the problem that it does not remove the bacilli or house dust mites on the surface to be cleaned. However, since the shutter member open or close the air inflow opening by sliding through the slit, the slit should be closed up, so that it does not leak the air when the shutter member opens the air inflow opening to allow the air to be drawn into the dust separating unit. Accordingly, the conventional upright vacuum cleaner as described above is disadvantageous in that it needs a troublesome operation that the user should remove the suction hose, which is inserted into the air inflow opening to close up the slit, from the air inflow opening when the shutter member closes up the air inflow opening, and insert and join the suction hose into and to the air inflow opening again when the shutter member opens the air inflow opening.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present disclosure has been developed in order to solve the above described and other problems in the related art. Accordingly, an aspect of the present disclosure is to provide an upright vacuum cleaner capable of sterilizing bacilli or house dust mites included in air drawn into the dust separating unit while simplifying the construction and operation of the upright vacuum cleaner.

The above aspect is achieved by providing a vacuum cleaner including: a body assembly including a dust separating unit having an air inflow part to draw in air and an air outflow part to discharge the air, and a motor chamber communicated with the air outflow part and having a suction motor mounted therein; a suction brush connected to a lower end of the body assembly to draw in an external air; a suction hose connected between the suction brush and the air inflow part of the dust separating unit to guide the external air drawn in by the suction brush to the air inflow part; and a sterilizing unit to sterilize bacilli or house dust mites in the air drawn into the dust separating unit through the suction brush and the suction hose, The sterilizing unit includes a hot air circulating duct disposed between the motor chamber and the air inflow part of the dust separating unit to guide air discharged through the air outflow part of the dust separating unit from the motor chamber to the air inflow part of the dust separating unit, and an air passage switching part disposed at a place where the air inflow part, the suction hose and the hot air circulating duct intersect and movable between a cleaning position and a sterilizing position to switch a flow of air, the cleaning position being a position where the air passage switching part blocks off between the air inflow part and the hot air circulating duct and the sterilizing position being a position where the air passage switching part blocks off between the air inflow part and the suction hose.

Here, the air passage switching part may include a manifold having first, second and third connecting openings connected with the air inflow part, the suction hose and the hot air circulating duct to communicate therewith, respectively, a valve member rotatably disposed in the manifold to be positionable in a cleaning position of closing up the third connecting opening or a sterilizing position of closing up the second connecting opening according to an angle of rotation thereof, and a knob connected to the valve member to rotate the valve member. At this time, preferably, but not necessarily, the manifold is made up of a cylindrical tube element having the first, second and third connecting openings disposed in an angle of 90° to one another on an circumferential surface thereof, and the valve member is made up of a cut-away sleeve having an circumferential surface, almost all area of which is cut away with only an area capable of closing up at least one of the first, second and third connecting openings remained.

The sterilizing unit may further include a temperature detecting sensor to detect a temperature of air guided to the dust separating unit through the hot air circulating duct and to stop driving of the suction motor when the detected temperature is above a predetermined temperature. The temperature detecting sensor may be a thermostat or a thermistor. At this time, preferably, but not necessarily, the predetermined temperature is more than 56 degrees Celsius (° C.), more particularly, 63-67° C.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES

The above aspects and other advantages of the present disclosure will be more apparent by describing exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure with reference to the accompanying drawing figures, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view exemplifying a construction of an upright vacuum cleaner according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a partially exploded perspective view of the vacuum cleaner illustrated in FIG. 1;

FIGS. 3A and 3B are side elevations exemplifying an operation of a sterilizing unit of the vacuum cleaner illustrated in FIG. 2;

FIGS. 4A and 4B are partially cut-away perspective views taken along line IV-IV of FIGS. 3A and 3B, respectively;

FIGS. 5A and 5B are perspective views exemplifying the operation of the sterilizing unit of the vacuum cleaner illustrated in FIG. 2; and

FIG. 6 is a perspective view exemplifying a construction of a valve member of an air passage switching part of the sterilizing unit illustrated in FIGS. 5A and 5B.

Throughout the drawings, like reference numerals will be understood to refer to like parts, components and structures.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF AN EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENT

Hereinafter, an upright vacuum cleaner according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure will now be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawing figures.

FIGS. 1 and 2 are a perspective view and an exploded perspective view exemplifying an upright vacuum cleaner according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

As illustrated in FIGS. 1 and 2, the upright vacuum cleaner 1 according to the exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure includes a body assembly 10, a suction brush 20, a suction hose 30, and a sterilizing unit 40.

The body assembly 10 is provided with a front body 12 and a rear body 14. The front body 12 has a dust separating unit 16 formed at an upper part thereof. The dust separating unit 16 has a cyclone 17 and a dust bin 18 detachably disposed under the cyclone 17. Since constructions of the cyclone 17 and the dust bin 18 are the same as those of the conventional ones, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

An inflow pipe 19 is formed as an air inflow part on one side of a lower part of the cyclone 17 in the rear body 14. The inflow pipe 19 is communicated with the suction brush 20 through the suction hose 30 and an air passage switching part 42 of the sterilizing unit 40 to be described later, and communicated with an outlet side of the motor chamber 13 through the air passage switching part 42 and a hot air circulating duct 44. A discharging pipe 21 is formed as an air discharging part on one side of an upper part of the cyclone 17 in the rear body 14. The discharging pipe 21 is communicated with an inlet side of the motor chamber 13 through a connecting pipe 22.

The motor chamber 13 is formed under the front body 12 and the rear body 14 when they are joined with each other. In the motor chamber 12 is mounted a suction motor 15, which generates a suction force. On a front surface of the front body 12 is formed an air discharging opening (not illustrated), which discharges air discharged from the outlet side of the motor chamber 13.

The suction brush 20 is rotatably joined with a lower side of the body assembly 10. The suction hose 30 guides an external air drawn in by the suction brush 20 to the air passage switching part 42 connected to the inflow pipe 19 of the cyclone 17 in the rear body 14.

The suction hose 30 at an upper end thereof is detachably joined to a manifold 46 of the air passage switching part 42 by a connecting socket 47 formed on a second connecting opening 46 b of the manifold 46. The suction hose 30 at a lower end thereof is also detachably joined to a connecting tube 26, which is installed on an upper side of the suction brush 20 to communicate with the suction brush 20. Accordingly, as occasion demands, a user can separate the lower end of the suction hose 30 from the connecting tube 26 and join various accessories (not illustrated) to the lower end of the suction hose 30.

The sterilizing unit 40, which sterilizes bacilli or house dust mites included in air drawn into the dust separating unit 16 through the suction brush 20 and the suction hose 30 by using a heat of the suction motor 15, is installed in the rear body 14 of the body assembly 10. The sterilizing unit 40 is provided with a hot air circulating duct 44 and an air passage switching part 42.

The hot air circulating duct 44 is installed between the inflow pipe 19 of the cyclone 17 of the dust separating unit 16 and the outlet side of the motor chamber 13 communicating with the air discharging opening of the front body 12, and guides the air discharged through the outflow pipe 21 of the cyclone 17 to the inflow pipe 19 of the cyclone 17 from the outlet side of the motor chamber 13 in a sterilizing mode of the vacuum cleaner 1.

The air passage switching part 42 is installed at a place where the inflow pipe 19, the suction hose 30, and the hot air circulating duct 44 intersect to one another. The air passage switching part 42 is movable to locate between a cleaning position (see FIGS. 3A, 4A, and 5A) and a sterilizing position (see FIGS. 3B, 4B, and 5B), so that it switches a flow of air. As illustrated in FIG. 4A, the cleaning position is a position where the air passage switching part 42 blocks off between the inflow pipe 19 and the hot air circulating duct 44 and communicates the inflow pipe 19 with the suction hose 30, and as illustrated in FIG. 4B, the sterilizing position is a position where the air passage switching part 42 blocks off between the inflow pipe 19 and the suction hose 30 and communicates the inflow pipe 19 with the hot air circulating duct 44.

As illustrated in FIGS. 5A through 6, the air passage switching part 42 is made up of a manifold 46, a valve member 48, and a knob 49. The manifold 46 is provided with first, second and third connecting openings 46 a, 46 b, and 46 c, which are communicated and joined with the inflow pipe 19, the suction hose 30 and the hot air circulating duct 44, respectively. Here, preferably, but not necessarily, the manifold 46 is formed of a cylindrical tube element having the first, the second and the third connecting openings 46 a, 46 b and 46 c disposed in an angle of 90° to one another on an circumferential surface thereof. The valve member 48 according to an angle of rotation thereof is positioned at the cleaning position (see FIGS. 3A, 4A and 5A) where it closes up the third connecting opening 46 c of the manifold 46 and opens the first and the second connecting openings 46 a and 46 b and the sterilizing position (see FIGS. 3B, 4B and 5B) where it closes up the second connecting opening 46 b and opens the first and the third connecting openings 46 a and 46 c. As illustrated in FIG. 6, preferably, but not necessarily, the valve member 48 is formed of a cut-away sleeve having an circumferential surface, almost all area of which is cut away with only an area capable of closing up at least one of the first, the second and the third connecting openings 46 a, 46 b and 46 c of the manifold 46 remained. The knob 49, which rotates the valve member 48, is integrally formed with the valve member 48.

Accordingly, as illustrated in FIGS. 3A, 4A and 5A, to operate the vacuum cleaner 1 in a general cleaning mode, if the user rotates the valve member 48 to the cleaning position through the knob 49, the valve member 48 closes up the third connecting opening 46 c of the manifold 46 and opens the first and the second connecting openings 46 a and 46 c, so that it blocks off between the inflow pipe 19 and the hot air circulating duct 44 and communicates between the inflow pipe 19 and the suction hose 30. To the contrary, as illustrated in FIGS. 3B, 4B and 5B, to operate the vacuum cleaner 1 in a sterilizing mode, if the user operates the valve member 48 to the sterilizing position through the knob 49, the valve member 48 closes up the second connecting opening 46 b and opens the first and the third connecting openings 46 a and 46 c, so that it blocks off between the inflow pipe 19 and the suction hose 30 and communicates between the inflow pipe 19 and the hot air circulating duct 44.

To prevent inner parts of the vacuum cleaner 1 from being overheated and deteriorated, the sterilizing unit 40 can further include a temperature detecting sensor 45 (see FIG. 1), which detects a temperature of the air guided to the cyclone 17 of the dust separating unit 16 through the hot air circulating duct 44 and stops driving of the suction motor 15 when the detected temperature is above a predetermined temperature. The temperature detecting sensor 45 is disposed on one side of the inside of the hot air circulating duct 44, and connected to the suction motor 15 of the motor chamber 13 through an electric wire. The temperature detecting sensor 45 can be installed in different proper place, such as the inflow pipe 19 or the cyclone 17, instead of being disposed in the hot air circulating duct 44. The temperature detecting sensor 45 is formed of a thermostat or a thermistor, which can stops the driving of the suction motor 15 when the detected temperature is above the predetermined temperature. At this time, preferably, but not necessarily, the predetermined temperature that the temperature detecting sensor 45 should stop the driving of the suction motor 15 is more than 56° C., more particularly, 63-67° C.

Hereinafter, an operation of the upright vacuum cleaner 1 according to the exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure constructed as described above will now be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 1 through 6.

First, if the user wants to carry out a general cleaning mode, she or he rotates the valve member 48 to a cleaning position by using the knob 49. As a result, the valve member 48 blocks off between the inflow pipe 19 and the hot air circulating duct 44 and communicates between the inflow pipe 19 and suction hose 30, as explained with reference to FIGS. 3A, 4A and 5A.

Under this state, the user activates the suction motor 15 via an operating switch, which is not illustrated. As a result, an external air along with dust or dirt is drawn into the suction brush 20 from a surface to be cleaned. The external air laden with the dust or dirt drawn into the suction brush 20 flows into the cyclone 17 of the dust separating unit 16 through the suction hose 30, the air passage switching part 42, and the inflow pipe 19. The air flowing into the cyclone 17 passes through the cyclone 17, and then is discharged to the air discharging opening of the front body 12 via the discharging pipe 21, the connecting pipe 22, and the suction motor 15 of the motor chamber 13. When the air passes through the cyclone 17, the dust or dirt is separated from the air by a centrifugal force and collected into and stored in the dust bin 18.

After the cleaning operation is completed as described above, if the user wants to carry out a sterilizing mode, she or he rotates the valve member 48 to a sterilizing position by using the knob 49. As a result, the valve member 48 blocks off between the inflow pipe 19 and the suction hose 30 and communicates between the inflow pipe 19 and the hot air circulating duct 44, as explained with reference to FIGS. 3B, 4B and 5B.

Under this state, the user activates the suction motor 15. As a result, the air in the cyclone 17 of the dust separating unit 16 is drawn into the motor chamber 13 by the suction motor 15 of the motor chamber 13. However, since the valve member 48 blocks off between the inflow pipe 19 and the suction hose 30, no external air is drawn into the cyclone 17 of the dust separating unit 16. Accordingly, a negative pressure greatly lower than an atmospheric pressure outside the air discharging opening of the front body 12 is applied in the cyclone 17 of the dust separating unit 16. As a result, almost none of the air flowing into the suction motor 15 of the motor chamber 13 is discharged to the outside through the discharging opening of the front body 12, but is moved again to the cyclone 17 of the dust separating unit 16 through the hot air circulating duct 44. While the air of the dust separating unit 16 is continuously recirculated in the body assembly 11 as described above, the circulating air is heated by a heat generating from the suction motor 15. As the air is heated to reach a temperature of approximately 56° C., bacilli or house dust mites included in the air or the dust or dirt collected in the dust bin 18 are sterilized. When the sterilizing operation as described above is continued for approximately 3-4 minutes, a temperature of the air is increased beyond a predetermined temperature, that is, more than 56° C., more particularly, 63-67° C., of the temperature detecting sensor 45. Then, the temperature detecting sensor 45 stops driving of the suction motor 15. As a result, the sterilizing operation is completed.

As apparent from the foregoing description, according to the exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure, the upright vacuum cleaner has the air passage switching part, which is switched between the cleaning position of blocking off between the air inflow part of the dust separating unit and the hot air circulating duct and the sterilizing position of blocking off between the air inflow part and the suction hose by a hand of the user, so that the flow of air is changed. Accordingly, if the air passage switching part is rotated to the sterilizing position by the user, the air discharged through the air discharging part of the dust separating unit is recirculated to the dust separating unit through the hot air circulating duct due to the suction force of the suction motor, so that it is heated by the heat generating from the suction motor. As a result, the bacilli or the house dust mites included in the air or the dust or dirt in the dust separating unit is sterilized. As described above, the upright vacuum cleaner according to the exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure not only has the air passage switching part with the construction simplified, so that the user can operate rotating it with her or his hand, but also does not needs the troublesome operation that as in the conventional vacuum cleaner, the user should remove the suction hose from the air inflow opening when the shutter member closes up the air inflow opening, and insert and join the suction hose into and to the air inflow opening again when the shutter member opens the air inflow opening.

Although representative exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure has been shown and described in order to exemplify the principle of the present disclosure, the present disclosure is not limited to the specific exemplary embodiment. It will be understood that various modifications and changes can be made by one skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure as defined by the appended claims. Therefore, it shall be considered that such modifications, changes and equivalents thereof are all included within the scope of the present disclosure. 

1. A vacuum cleaner, comprising: a body assembly comprising a dust separating unit having an air inflow part to draw in air and an air outflow part to discharge the air, and a motor chamber communicated with the air outflow part and having a suction motor mounted therein; a suction brush connected to a lower end of the body assembly to draw in an external air; a suction hose connected between the suction brush and the air inflow part of the dust separating unit to guide the external air drawn in by the suction brush to the air inflow part; and a sterilizing unit to sterilize bacilli or house dust mites in the air drawn into the dust separating unit through the suction brush and the suction hose; wherein the sterilizing unit comprises a hot air circulating duct disposed between the motor chamber and the air inflow part of the dust separating unit to guide air discharged through the air outflow part of the dust separating unit from the motor chamber to the air inflow part of the dust separating unit, and an air passage switching part disposed at a place where the air inflow part, the suction hose and the hot air circulating duct intersect and movable between a cleaning position and a sterilizing position to switch a flow of air, the cleaning position being a position where the air passage switching part blocks off between the air inflow part and the hot air circulating duct and the sterilizing position being a position where the air passage switching part blocks off between the air inflow part and the suction hose.
 2. The vacuum cleaner of claim 1, wherein the air passage switching part comprises: a manifold having first, second and third connecting openings connected with the air inflow part, the suction hose and the hot air circulating duct to communicate therewith, respectively; a valve member rotatably disposed in the manifold to be positionable in the cleaning position of closing up the third connecting opening or the sterilizing position of closing up the second connecting opening according to an angle of rotation thereof; and a knob connected to the valve member to rotate the valve member.
 3. The vacuum cleaner of claim 2, wherein the manifold comprises a cylindrical tube element having the first, second and third connecting openings disposed in an angle of 90° to one another on a circumferential surface thereof.
 4. The vacuum cleaner of claim 2, wherein the valve member comprises a cut-away sleeve having a circumferential surface, almost all area of which is cut away with only an area capable of closing up at least one of the first, second and third connecting openings remaining.
 5. The vacuum cleaner of claim 1, wherein the sterilizing unit further comprises a temperature detecting sensor to detect a temperature of air guided to the dust separating unit through the hot air circulating duct and to stop driving the suction motor when the detected temperature is above a predetermined temperature.
 6. The vacuum cleaner of claim 5, wherein the temperature detecting sensor comprises one of a thermostat and a thermistor.
 7. The vacuum cleaner of claim 5, wherein the predetermined temperature is more than 56° C.
 8. The vacuum cleaner of claim 5, wherein the predetermined temperature is between 63° C. and 67° C.
 9. A vacuum cleaner, comprising: a body assembly comprising a dust separating unit having an air inflow part and an air outflow part; a motor chamber communicated with the air outflow part; a suction hose connected between a suction brush and the air inflow part to guide an external air to the air inflow part; a hot air circulating duct disposed between the motor chamber and the air inflow part of the dust separating unit; and an air passage switching part disposed at a place where the air inflow part, the suction hose, and the hot air circulating duct intersect, the air passage switching part being movable between a cleaning position and a sterilizing position, wherein the air passage switching part blocks off between the air inflow part and the hot air circulating duct in the cleaning position and wherein the air passage switching part blocks off between the air inflow part and the suction hose in the sterilizing position.
 10. The vacuum cleaner of claim 9, wherein the air passage switching part comprises a manifold having first, second and third connecting openings connected with the air inflow part, the suction hose and the hot air circulating duct to communicate therewith, respectively.
 11. The vacuum cleaner of claim 10, wherein the air passage switching part comprises: a valve member rotatably disposed in the manifold to be positionable in the cleaning position or the sterilizing position according to an angle of rotation thereof; and a knob connected to the valve member to rotate the valve member.
 12. The vacuum cleaner of claim 9, further comprising a temperature detecting sensor configured to detect a temperature of air in the hot air circulating duct. 